Kayla Harrison (16-1) may not be the UFC 300 main event, but her debut is definitely one of the most talked-about moments for the historic event on Saturday.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo has already conquered the PFL several times over. Now, she attempts to do the same in the UFC, and she’ll be tested at a level unlike anything she’s faced before in fighting.
Not only is she be cutting to 135 pounds for the first time after fighting almost her entire career at 155 pounds. But she also kicks off her UFC career with a showdown against a former champion in Holly Holm.
Nothing will be handed to the 33-year-old Harrison. But UFC color commentator and analyst Laura Sanko believes her UFC arrival is exactly what women’s MMA needs right now.
“That’s the story of Kayla Harrison coming to the UFC,” Sanko said on The Fighter vs. The Writer when asked about her most anticipated fight. “I cannot overstate how big of a fan I am of her in terms of not just her fighting, but her as a human being. She’s just an awesome person.
“The bantamweight division needs someone like Kayla Harrison to come in here and shake it up, and quite frankly, women’s MMA in the UFC right now needs a little bit of a breath of fresh air. Hopefully, she can come out here and make that insanely difficult cut and not have it affect her too much in the fight, and make good on, I think, the idea of what a lot of people have for her for what she can do in the UFC.”
Bantamweight is not only the first UFC women’s division, but it was once considered a marquee weight class, largely thanks to the star power of Ronda Rousey. Since Rousey’s exit, Amanda Nunes headlined numerous cards but wasn’t the same magnetic draw as her predecessor.
Lately, the bantamweight division has largely been stagnant; the belt remained vacant for several months following Nunes’ retirement. Now, division vet Raquel Pennington holds the belt, but there’s not a whole lot of new and exciting faces waiting to greet her for promotable fights. That changes if Harrison can tear through an established veteran and former champion such as Holm.
Beyond her fight skills, Sanko also believes that Harrison possesses another ability that’s sorely been missed since Rousey made headlines every single time she had a microphone in front of her face.
“I was working the desk last weekend, and before the fights, that was the point we were all thinking about — this Germaine de Randamie–Norma Dumont fight, the winner here could be a real injection of life, especially Germaine de Randamie,” Sanko explained. “Having her come back, former champion, had only ever lost to Amanda Nunes, and it just didn’t quite play out in those terms. Now, we look to Kayla Harrison.
“What I love about Kayla, not only is she capable of going out there and running through people like we’ve seen her do, she’s excellent on the mic. There’s a lack of that in women’s MMA. I’m not a big fan of the vile level of s*** talk that we’ve seen become popular lately. I hate that. But I do think that you have to be able to seize the moment when you have a microphone. It’s part of the business now. A lot of times the female fighters tend to be really respectful, which is awesome, but it doesn’t always build the biggest fights. You put Julianna Pena and Kayla Harrison, we are already seeing it on Twitter, those two are going to build a fight if that’s what’s in the stars for them.”
Harrison’s heavily hyped debut doesn’t mean she’s guaranteed anything, especially going up against a perennial contender like Holm in her first UFC fight. Still, Sanko can’t wait to see what Harrison can do on the largest stage in combat sports, and she might be most excited about one particular weapon that she’ll finally have at her disposal.
“What I’m excited to see because I saw it one time where she popped over to Invicta, I called that fight, and she had one fight at 145 in Invicta where she was allowed to use elbows,” Sanko said. “She can’t use elbows in PFL.
“I’m telling you what, what she did to that poor woman in Invicta when she was finally able to use elbows when she got on top, [her opponent] looked like she took a hatchet to the face. I’m excited to see Kayla Harrison with elbows.”
The stakes couldn’t be any higher for Harrison, who’s often said she wants to go down as the greatest fighter in the history of the sport. Reaching the top of that mountain requires a move to the UFC.
“I think Kayla Harrison actually has a lot to lose if she comes out here and performs poorly,” Sanko said. “Like where do you go? If you don’t look good at 135 or she misses weight, there is no 145. So it’s certainly high stakes for her.
“Can she find Holly in that big pay-per-view sized octagon? With Holly’s incredible footwork and ability to stay elusive, that could be a real problem for Kayla. This is a very tough test right out of the gate for her to be facing a former champion and someone who has the footwork. That could really give her some problems.”